Briefly
- Pentagon signed AI deployment offers with eight corporations, together with Google, OpenAI, and SpaceX.
- The AI programs will function on categorized networks on the highest safety ranges.
- The Pentagon’s inside AI platform exhibits fast early adoption throughout the division.
The U.S. Division of Protection stated Friday it has entered agreements with eight know-how corporations, certifying SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon Net Providers to deploy superior synthetic intelligence on categorized army networks.
In response to the announcement, the programs will run at Affect Degree 6 and Affect Degree 7, Division of Protection safety requirements for categorized knowledge, with IL6 protecting secret-level info and IL7 used for extra delicate intelligence programs designed to deal with extremely restricted nationwide safety knowledge. The AI should function on tightly managed infrastructure with strict entry controls, community isolation, and clearance necessities.
“These agreements speed up the transformation towards establishing the US army as an AI-first combating pressure and can strengthen our warfighters’ potential to keep up determination superiority throughout all domains of warfare,” the Pentagon stated.
The Pentagon stated the agreements construct on present federal funding in these corporations, which already maintain contracts throughout cloud computing, knowledge infrastructure, and AI. The announcement didn’t disclose the worth of the contracts. In its 2026 funds request, the Division of Protection stated it’s searching for a complete of $961.6 billion, together with $33.7 billion earmarked for science and know-how and autonomous programs.
The division stated the trouble will assist its inside platform, GenAI.mil, launched in December with Google Gemini, including that greater than 1.3 million personnel have used it to generate tens of tens of millions of prompts and deploy lots of of hundreds of AI brokers in 5 months. The Pentagon stated the system will assist knowledge evaluation, situational consciousness, and decision-making, and is designed to make use of a number of AI suppliers fairly than depend on a single vendor.
“As we stated once we first introduced our settlement a number of months in the past, we imagine the individuals defending the US ought to have the most effective instruments on the earth,” an OpenAI spokesperson informed Decrypt.
An Amazon Net Providers spokesperson stated the corporate plans to increase its assist for U.S. army operations because the Pentagon strikes ahead with AI deployment on categorized networks.
“For greater than a decade, AWS has been dedicated to supporting our nation’s army and guaranteeing that our warfighters and protection companions have entry to the most effective know-how at the most effective worth,” AWS spokesperson Tim Barrett informed Decrypt. “We stay up for persevering with to assist the Division of [Defense’s] modernization efforts, constructing AI options that assist them accomplish their essential missions.”
Critics warn that the Pentagon’s plan raises unresolved questions on oversight, transparency, and the potential dangers of deploying AI in high-stakes army settings.
“The DoD announcement that it has agreed to deploy AI on categorized networks raises extra questions than it solutions,” Greg Nojeim, director of the Middle for Democracy and Expertise’s Safety and Surveillance Mission, informed Decrypt. “How will DoD use the AI that it deploys, and the way will it be sure that such use doesn’t end in errant selections with deadly impression? Will it use AI to additional supercharge surveillance, together with surveillance of People? This announcement solely underlines the necessity for extra transparency concerning the DoD’s use and oversight of AI.”
The agreements are a part of a broader push to combine AI throughout army operations. In March 2025, the Pentagon contracted Scale AI to construct the Thunderforge planning system, adopted by offers with OpenAI to include ChatGPT and one other with rival agency xAI to include its Grok AI mannequin in July 2025.
Final month, the Division of Protection reached a cope with Google for categorized AI work, amid a report that the NSA started deploying Anthropic’s Claude Mythos on categorized networks regardless of an ongoing dispute with the corporate.
“As mandated by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, the Division will proceed to envelop our warfighters with superior AI to fulfill the unprecedented rising threats of tomorrow and to strengthen our Arsenal of Freedom,” the Pentagon stated.
SpaceX, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for remark.
Editor’s observe: This story was up to date after publication so as to add feedback.
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